A New Life
by Winnie Bear aka hlim
Summary: UPDATED: CHAPTER 3 A sequel to “That was all it took”. It will make more sense to read that one first. Set 8 months from “That was all it took”.
1. Default Chapter

Title: A new life

Author: Winnie Bear a.k.a Hlim

Rating: K+

Classification: Romance/Drama (Tony/Michelle)

Summary: A sequel to "That was all it took". It will make more sense to read that one first. Set 8 months from "That was all it took".

Disclaimers: I don't own '24' or any of the characters so, no copyright infringement intended.

AN: Ok, folks! Here is the sequel as requested. Thank you all so much for the reviews! Greatly appreciated!

Special thanks to my beta reader, Areims, for her help.

Here you go. Enjoy!

Good Samaritans Hospital

Labor and Delivery Departments

8 months later

"Push, Michelle! Push! Just one more push!" Dr. Kay Gilbert encouraged from the end of bed.

"Come on, honey. You can do it!" Tony encouraged while mumbling sweet nonsense to her ear. His right hand hurt like hell from Michelle's grips, but he kept a smiling face for his wife.

Michelle gave one final hard push and everyone in the room heard the screaming of one angry Almeida. Not happy that he was taken from his warm home.

"Congratulations, you both. It's a son!" Dr. Gilbert announced happily. "Daddy, would you like to cut the cord?"

Tony smiled goofily at his son. He grabbed the scissors to cut the cord and held his son for the first time.

"Here is your big guy, mommy." Tony gave the squirming infant to Michelle. "He sure has a healthy lung." The once screaming infant quickly calmed down on his mother's chest. Michelle looked at the precious bundle and could not help but to shed happy tears. Tony, of course, could not resist but to tease her. "Honey, you don't want to drown our son." She gave a laugh but her face quickly twisted into a pained expression.

"Tony! It still hurts!" She gritted her teeth and grabbed Tony's head with her free hand.

"Michelle, you ok? Doctor! Doctor!" Tony yelled frantically.

The nurse quickly came over and took baby Almeida from his mother, while Dr. Gilbert came back to her station at the end of bed.

"Doctor?" Tony looked at her with confusion.

"Oh my…" She ignored Tony's question and looked at Michelle. "Michelle, I need you to push hard." Michelle did as asked and everyone once again heard a scream from a displease infant. This time it's a baby girl.

Tony was stunned when he cut the cord, the 2nd time in less than half an hour. Michelle was also stunned, "Nobody told me anything about twin." Tony looked back and forth between Michelle and Dr. Gilbert.

Dr. Gilbert frowned for a second. She was not aware of the twin either. "I think I know the reason. This one is much smaller than her brother. She was probably hiding behind her brother and the heartbeat wasn't strong enough to be detected by the technician during ultrasound. (AN: I know it might seem impossible, but it is actually possible! I worked in Labor and Delivery before and that was exactly happening. The second infant was very tiny. Both are boys. They are probably about a year old by now).

Tony was speechless. He was prepared to be a father when Michelle went to labor last night, but the fact that he is a father of twins twenty hours later was beyond his wildest dreams. His train of thought was interrupted by the nurse. The nurse walked over to him and handed the little girl into her father's waiting arms. "She is a bit smaller. We need to put her in an incubator but you can have a couple minutes with her."

Tony brought her close to Michelle, who was trying to nurse their son. "Hey little one, you gave me a surprise." Michelle cooed softly to the infant, who snuggled close to her father's chest.

"So, mommy, do we have a name yet?" "How about Jonathan Phillip Almeida?" "Jonathan Almeida… That's a great name, sweetheart. I like it. How about this one then?"

"Nope, I named our son. You named our daughter."

"Sarah Michelle Almeida" Tony said suddenly.

"Tony…"

"What? I want her to have her mother's name, the woman who stole her father's heart at first hello. The strong woman who has went through a lot in the past but bounced back from it. It is the same woman who makes me the luckiest man in the world. I love you, honey." Tony said and kissed his wife on the lips. Michelle, choked with emotion, kissed him back. "I love you so much, Tony."

The nurse came back a second later, "I'm sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Almeida. We need to take the babies to the nursery for a check up. We'll also move you to the recovery room soon." The new parents reluctantly hand over their bundle of joys to nurse.

4 hours later

Michelle's recovery room

Michelle, totally exhausted, had finally fallen asleep two hours ago. Jonathan checked out perfectly healthy, while Sarah needed to stay in the incubator for at least 48 hrs as a precaution. She needed to gain little weight. Tony had been busy making phone calls. Both his and Michelle's parents lived in Seattle. His first phone call was to them. The new grandparents were very excited and they promised to fly over tomorrow. Tony trusted Adam to announce the news to the CTU staff. Jack and Kate were already on their way.

Over the months, Jack had gone to rehab to cure his heroin addiction and things had been working out with Kate Warner. Tony and Jack's friendship had stepped up another notch for the past year. Jack, who warmed up to Michelle after the Cyprus recording, treats her like the sister that he doesn't have. While Michelle loves Danny, she also enjoyed Jack's protective older brother role.

"Tony." Tony turned around as someone called his name. It was Jack with Kate hot on his heel. "Jack." Both men exchanged a brief hug and a hand-shake. Tony gave Kate a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Congratulations, Tony." "Thanks, Kate."

"Yeah, Tony, congratulations. So, what's the deal with the twin? You never told us about twins." Jack chipped in.

"Trust me, Jack! I had no idea until after she was born. Apparently, she hid behind Jonathan and decided to be a surprise to her parents."

"Jonathan!" Jack quizzed

"Michelle came up with that. That's right, Jack. It was after you, John and Michelle's father, Nathan".

"I don't know what to say. I'm honored."

"You are a good friend, Jack and Michelle always regards you as her older brother." Tony said as he patted Jack's shoulder.

"Where is Michelle, Tony?" Kate asked, saving Jack from an awkward moment.

"Come on, let me take you guys to her room. She was sleeping when I left".

In the room, Michelle was just starting to wake up. "Hi, sweetheart." She turned her head toward the door as Tony entered the room and walked towards her.

"Hi."

"How are you doing?" Tony asked softly and planted a kiss on her forehead.

"Tired but happy." She smiled.

"Jack and Kate are here."

"Jack?" Michelle tilted her head to the side to see Jack, who bend over and also planted a kiss on her forehead.

"Hey, congratulations."

"Thanks. Hi, Kate."

"Hi. So, where are the babies?" As if on cue, the door opened to reveal two nurses. "Sorry to interrupt, but we have someone who would like to see his parents." The nurse said as she pushed a bassinet covered blue blanket inside the room.

"Where is Sarah?" Michelle questioned, only seeing one baby.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Almeida. Sarah needs to stay in the incubator for atleast 48 hrs. She is smaller than her brother. It's just a precaution, there is nothing to worry about. Jonathan can stay here after you feed him."

"All right." Michelle responded softly, a bit disappointed not being able to see her daughter.

"I'll leave you guys alone then." The nurse turned and left the room after settling Jonathan in Michelle's arms.

"Aww…Michelle, he is so precious." Kate cooed at baby Jonathan, who looked curiously at Kate with his brown eyes.

"Here you go, Jack, meet your namesake, Jonathan Philip Almeida." She looked briefly at Tony, receiving nod and a smile, before adding, "…and your godson."

Jack was speechless. "Michelle, I…I don't know what to say." "Say you will be his godfather." "I'm honored. Thank you." Jack timidly reached for Jonathan and held him in his arms. "Hey, buddy. Oh boy, you have your father's looks. Hopefully, you will not be as stubborn as your father." Jack said with a straight face while Tony yelped and gave him a dirty look.

"Hey! No manipulation allowed." Michelle and Kate suppressed a giggle. Tony sat on the edge of the bed and drew Michelle into his arms. Both were content just to watch as Jack and Kate fussed around the tiny boy.

TBC…

AN: All right, folks. I have 2 favors to ask:

Give me a lot and lots of reviews! grin

I'm kind of run of ideas. sheepish. So, if anybody has any suggestions (i.e. what happen next? More T/M or work on others, etc…) Please…please, don't hesitate to let me know. If you prefer to e-mail me directly instead of reviews page, please do so. Just make sure put "24: A new life" on subject line. I'm looking forward to hear from you all. Thanks for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: See chapter 1

A/N: Sorry it took forever to update, folks! I finally get my B.S degree square away…so I promise will make a quick update after this one :D Enjoy!

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Chapter 2

Good Samaritans Hospital

Mother and Baby Units

Jack and Kate left about half an hour ago with a promise that they will return tomorrow morning.

"Shush…shush…John. What is it, son? Shush…shush…" Tony tried to calm his screaming son. Jonathan started to scream his lungs off about 20 minutes ago. Michelle had fall asleep again and Tony did not want to disturb her. That's how he ended up in the hallway with a screaming baby.

"What is it, son? Are you hungry again? Mommy just fed you, didn't she?" Tony asked the little infant as if the boy understood. Five more minutes of pacing the hallway and rocking the baby, Tony gave up.

"Ok, son… let's wake your mommy up." Tony said as he walked back to the room.

Michelle was just about to get up from her bed. "Whoa…what are you doing there?" Tony exclaimed as he open the door.

"Tony, I gave birth I'm not bedridden here. I'm allowed to get up. Besides, I heard John screaming when I woke up. So, I decided to find you." Michelle mused. Tony had a high tendency to be overprotective. Tony just smiled sheepishly.

"Give him to me. What's with him anyway?" Michelle said as she reached for John.

"I have no idea. I didn't want him to wake you up so I brought him to the nursery but he started to scream as soon as the nurse put him in the crib." Tony explained and handed the screaming infant to his mother.

"Shush…John…it's ok. Mommy is here, sweetie. Are you hungry, again?" John started to calm down once his mother held him. When he started to nuzzle Michelle's breast and fussed a little bit more, Michelle decided that he was indeed hungry again.

"Ah…you're hungry again, huh? Ok…hold on, sweetie" Michelle smiled at the infant and adjusted her hospital gown. She let out a small gasp as the infant latched onto her breast. John greedily sucked on her breast while Michelle stroked his small cheek gently. Tony was amazed by the beautiful picture in front of him, his beloved wife sitting in front of him and nursing their son. He sat next to Michelle and drew mother and son closer to him.

"Thank you" He said simply while giving her a kiss.

"What for?"

"For everything. For making me the luckiest man in world, and for making me the father of our two precious bundles." Michelle just smiled and kissed him back. Both glanced down and saw that John was now fast asleep.

"Here, let me take him to the bassinet."

"No, let me hold him for a bit longer."

"OK. Let me know when you want him in the bassinet." Tony said while he went behind Michelle and pulled her to him. She put her head on his shoulder. No more than 10 minutes had passed when they heard a knock on the door.

"Mrs. Almeida?" The visitor is a middle aged woman with a warm smile and some grey hairs.

"Yes."

"Mr. Almeida, I'm glad you're still here. My name is Stephanie Tyler. I'm the resident NICU (A/N: Neonatal ICU) doctor." She extended her hand to both bewildered new parents.

TBC….

Comments? Suggestions?


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: see chapter 1.

A/N: Areims, thanks for your help :D !

**Tm24**: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy this chapter too!

**Bookworm03**: Thanks! Yes, I am going to finish this story…

**Twentyfourrocks**: You have to read to find out :D. Thank you for the suggestions, I appreciate it. I might use it in future chapters.

**Amy**: Alright, Amy, here is the other chapter! Hope you enjoy it!

On to the story:

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Chapter 3

"NICU? Why NICU?" Tony is the first one to find his voice. He felt Michelle tighten her grip on his hand.

"Mr. Almeida, 15 minutes ago, your daughter developed jaundice and difficulty breathing. The jaundice caused her skin to be slightly yellowish. It is not uncommon for an infant. They usually bounce back fairly quickly, but your daughter's case might be slightly complicated", Dr. Tyler explained gently.

"But why?"

"She is so small and her liver and lungs aren't fully developed. It might take her a little more time to clear the jaundice. I have also put her on oxygen to help her breathe."

"Will Sarah be okay?" Michelle finally found her voice. Her hand unconsciously tightened around little John.

"Mrs. Almeida, we are doing everything we can. That is why I want her to be in the NICU, so we can monitor her closely."

"Please, can…can I see her?"

Dr. Tyler hesitated for a minute but the pleading look Michelle and Tony gave her made her comply with the wish.

"Okay, both of you can stay with for couple minutes, but I can't allow little John in there just yet. He needs to stay in the nursery. You can have him back afterwards. I'll have the nurse bring you a wheelchair." The doctor left as soon as she finished talking.

"Tony…" Michelle gives him a pleading look. She is at the verge of tears.

Tony drew his wife closer to him, "She will be fine, honey. She will be fine." Tony tried to comfort and to be strong for Michelle. He tried to conceal the fact that he was shaking like a leaf inside.

Less than 5 minutes later, two nurses entered the room. "Mrs. Almeida, I'm going to take this little fellow to the nursery. Just let us know when you want him back", one of the nurses said. Michelle and Tony both gave their son a kiss before the nurse put him in the bassinet and was ready to wheel him away.

"I'll leave the wheelchair here and when you're ready, you can visit the NICU," the other nurse said and she left Tony and Michelle alone. Less than 2 minutes later, the PA announcement rang across the floor.

"Dr. Tyler, please proceed immediately to NICU 303. Dr. Stephanie Tyler, please proceed immediately to NICU 303."

TBC…

A/N: Ok, don't kill me just yet. I know it short and another cliffhanger. Chapter 4 is on its way back to me tonight, so… a lot of reviews and I might put it up tonight :D Seriously, any comments and suggestions are appreciated. Thanks for reading.


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